Trapunto

Guess what arrived in the mail today?


The catalogue from the Guicciardini Trapunto Quilt exhibit at the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence! A very kind friend picked one up for me when she went to the exhibit. It is soft-cover and about 135 pages, the text is in Italian.

Every detail of the restoration of this amazing piece has been documented. The catalogue includes some history of the quilt, the story that is depicted on it and the difficulties encountered in making a copy of it and it's other part which is preserved at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. There is much more contained in this one volume than I've been able to piece together over a decade!

A detail of the quilt before the restoration...


...and after!


I have been unable to determine if a book was released after the copy of the London part was finished in 2007 by the House of Boutis. If you know of anything, please leave me a comment below!

These two quilts have inspired many embroiderers over time.

As mentioned in a previous post, the Club del Punto in Croce sponsored the International Exhibition of Textile Art inspired by the Guicciardini Quilt in Florence in October of 2006.

When I attended the 2007 Italia Invita Lace and Embroidery Forum, the booth of the association Laboratorio Tessile di Alice had an all Trapunto display with some pieces inspired by the Guicciardini Quilts.

The Italian needlework magazine Ricamo Italiano has some free patterns for download also inspired by the designs found on the Guicciardini Quilts.


Rosalba Pepi of the association Laboratorio Tessile di Alice put out a book called: Trapunto Fiorentino in 2008. The text is in Italian but it is packed with large colour photographs of step-by-step instructions and various projects of increasing difficulty from Christmas Tree ornaments to curtains! You can get this book from Tombolo Disegni. Click on "Libri/Books", then "Ricamo Boutis e Trapunto". Send an email request to order.